The 9-11 Attack on the Eyes of a Non- American

On a clear Tuesday morning of September 11, 2009, the world was shaken to its core when two hi- jacked American Airlines Boeing 767 airplanes crashed onto World Trade Center twin towers in New York. An estimate of 3000 people died in addition to more than 300 firefighters, paramedics and police officers who responded on the crime scene. Later that day, another plane hit the west wing of Pentagon and another one crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

The news of the attack spread like wild fire across the globe. It was later reported that the attack was initiated by a terrorist group called al- Qaeda which was being led by Osama Bin Laden. Their attack resulted to America’s movement to end the operation of Taliban in Afghanistan and they were finally able to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011 while hiding out in Pakistan.

It was one of the worst day in history of America and the world sympathized with them. Though it was really an awful scene, many non- Americans may not feel the same anger and hurt that the Americans felt. What the al- Qaeda did was more of damaging the nation’s morale and its citizen’s spirit. The news was blasting reports for more than a month, giving updates about the missing bodies and people who died while aiding those in need.

The next events shaped how young Americans live in their today’s society. It also changed how the adults deal with foreign nationals, laws and culture.

From a perspective of a non- American, it’s normal to expect that America would retaliate from the attack and everything actually went spiraling down from there. The war got bigger and it continued up to two generations and even after Osama Bin Laden got killed, that didn’t stop the war as other terrorist groups emerged. A lot of countries had become torn and caught up in the middle of the fighting and yet, no one seems to have an inch of inclination to stop and start the healing instead.

Other nations had also joined America’s quest to beat terrorism and for the past few years, it only got worse. Different crisis had risen while refugees tried their best to flee from all chaos that was happening in their countries.

It’s really hard now to pin point who started everything and it’s harder to know who will stop first to end the war once and for all. Also, there are a lot of laws, procedures and moral obligations that have to be considered before really putting a stop to these wars but if only the people involved cared more about their humanity and human nature of being good, I don’t see any reason for them to start a war and have the people in between suffer the most.

Maybe we still have a long way to go before we really achieve peace among the world’s nations but it will not happen if no one actually takes a step toward the healing. We’re still hoping that someday, this place will be better for our children. Just like what John Lennon said “They may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.”